Falling From Grace
by The Lonely Geek
Summary: The destinies of Morgana, Arthur and Gwen are well known, but what about back before Merlin came to Camelot when they were still children? How were their friendships formed? Find out how Morgana and Gwen grew so close and how Arthur learnt a few lessons from them.
1. Chapter 1: A Forbidden Friendship

_**Just a little idea I had cos I thought young Morgana, Arthur and Gwen would be really cute. It probably won't end up being that long, but please let me know what you think.**_

 **Falling from Grace**

 _ **Chapter 1: ~A Forbidden Friendship**_

"I hate you Arthur Pendragon!" A small girl with raven black hair cascading like a waterfall down her back screamed as she picked herself up, her usually pale face tinted pink with rage. She threw her wooden sword to the floor and ran off, leaving a small boy with messy blonde hair looking stunned.

"It was just a joke." He muttered. "Morgana, wait!" He called after her, but she was long gone, swallowed by the bustling crowd in the grounds of Camelot. Anger rose up in the girl as she stormed off. She really hated Arthur sometimes. He could be so immature. Why didn't he get that shoving someone in horse dung to win a sword fight wasn't funny?

She was so submerged in her anger that she didn't notice another girl of her age running in front of her. Both the girls toppled to the ground in a heap.

"Sorry." The girl Morgana ran into muttered, then she looked at her, and blushed. "I'm really sorry, your majesty, I just wasn't looking where I was going and..." She trailed off. Morgana smiled slightly.

"Don't worry about it." She replied, brushing away the dirt on her trousers, revealing a small rip and graze below it.

"You're bleeding." The girl said, sounding scared. "I am so so sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Morgana repeated. "Gaius, the court physician will see to it." She replied.

"See to what?" Morgana spun around and saw the familiar old man in front of her.

"Oh Gaius, good morning." She smiled.

"Good morning your majesty, now what do you need to see me about?" He asked, bending down to her height.

"Oh, I just tripped and I've grazed my knee, it's nothing life threatening." She replied, showing him her injured knee. He glanced at it.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Just make sure you don't get any dirt in. It'll just be a bit painful when you're washing for the next couple of days." He stood up to his normal height. "I expect I'll see you this evening when you collect your sleeping draught." He said. Morgana nodded.

"Thank you Gaius." She smiled as he left. She turned back to the girl she had run into and looked at her properly for the first time. She had brown curly hair that rested at her shoulders and her eyes were a deep brown. "It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Oh no, your dress is ripped." Morgana said, looking at the tear on the girl's sleeve. "I'll get someone at the castle to sew it for you if you want."

"You're too kind." She smiled.

"It's nothing." Morgana grinned back. "It was my fault. What's your name anyway?" She asked.

"Guinevere." She replied. "Everyone called me Gwen though."

"Gwen." Morgana repeated, in deep thought. "I don't suppose you have a brother who trains with Arthur, do you? Called Elyan, something like that. You remind me of him a little." Gwen nodded.

"Yes, he wants to become a knight when he's older." She replied, before sighing.

"What?" Morgana asked her.

"I just wish I could learn to fight like he does." Gwen explained. "He gets to learn how to fight and defend himself while I'm stuck here sewing and helping my mum with the cooking." Morgana rolled her eyes.

"I know. I love training with Arthur," She stopped here. "Well most of the time, when he's not too cocky, which is pretty much never, but anyway. I just miss the company of girls when I'm fighting. Uther only lets me train because I'm his ward and I might need to be able to defend myself in the future."

"Morgana, there you are!" The sandy haired boy shouted, running over to them. Morgana's face turned stony when she saw who it was. "Why are you talking to this peasant girl?" He asked, seeing Gwen and turning his nose up in disgust. Gwen looked down at her feet, blushing slightly. Morgana turned on Arthur savagely.

"This 'peasant girl' will be one of your people when you are king and you should treat them as such." She retorted angrily. "And as to why I am talking to her, she is my friend." Gwen fiddled with a curl of her hair in front of her face awkwardly, slightly in awe that Morgana dared to talk to the future king as she did and that she was calling her her friend.

"Your friend?" Arthur snorted. "I bet you've only just met her."

"Well at least she hasn't tried to shove me in horse dung." Morgana replied haughtily, turning back to Gwen. "Do you want to come up to the castle so we can get your dress sewed up?"

"I can do it myself." Gwen murmured quietly, wanting to avoid watching Morgana and Arthur arguing anymore.

"I insist." Morgana smiled, grabbing Gwenare you?" He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

's arm and dragging her along. Arthur ran after her.

"You aren't taking her into the castle "Yes, why is it an issue?" Morgana asked sarcastically.

"I don't want to be near a peasant." Arthur replied.

"It's fine, honestly, I can fix it myself." Gwen told her quickly.

"No, don't worry about him. He just enjoys lording his position over everyone. He forgets that he's not king yet." Morgana turned to her, speaking as if Arthur wasn't there.

"If you take her up to the castle, I'm going to tell father." Arthur smirked, thinking he had cornered her. Morgana's eyes gleamed angrily.

"And if you tell Uther then I might let it slip that it was you who let all the horses out of the stable the other day." Arthur's face darkened with anger.

"Just stay away from me." Then he turned away and walked off.

"You shouldn't have." Gwen said as Morgana led her towards the castle. "He's right. We can never be friends. You are the king's ward and I," She sighed. "I am just a peasant as he said."

"I don't care." Morgana smiled. "I've only just met you and I prefer you to all the girls of noble blood that Uther has had play with me."

"Thank you, erm. Your majesty." Gwen replied awkwardly.

"Call me Morgana." Morgana slipped her pale white hand into Gwen's bony one and they ran through the castle doors together.


	2. Chapter 2: Just a peasant girl?

_**Chapter 2: ~Just a Peasant Girl?**_

Gwen almost skipped back to her house a couple of hours later, wearing a beautiful new dress, her ripped dress was in her arms and had been patched up so you could never tell it had been ripped in the first place. Morgana had told her that she could keep the dress that she had borrowed while her dress was being sewed.

The dress was red and went down to her ankles, covering up the tips of Gwen's shabby, cobbled boots. It was the most expensive thing she had ever worn and if she sold it, it would probably pay for food for her family to eat for a month.

She and Morgana had gone to Morgana's chambers and Morgana had showed her all her dresses. She had three wardrobes full. Gwen could hardly believe that someone could be so privileged. She could have new dresses whenever she wanted, yet Gwen's parents struggled by, with hardly enough to live on. Morgana had found out that Gwen only had meat once a week and immediately ordered her servant to bring her some food and she gave all the meat to Gwen. She had never tasted anything like the stuff Morgana ate. All she had was a little bit of chicken once a week, but Morgana had all kinds of meats cooked in different spices and sauces that was an explosion of flavour in her mouth.

"Mum, guess what happened?" She shouted, excitedly, rushing through the door of her house, so different to the castle where her new friend lived. Morgana's chambers alone was bigger than her entire house.

"Oh Gwen, there you are." Her mum said, from the fire in the kitchen. "I'm just making vegetable soup, I expect you're hungry. I was expecting you home an hour ago, I was just going to send your brother to go looking for you." She turned around and saw Gwen standing there. "What on earth are you wearing?" She asked, in shock as Gwen's brother walked from behind the screen where he slept on the floor.

"So what Arthur said was true. The king's ward has befriended you." He said.

"The king's ward?" Gwen's mum asked. "What are you talking about?"

"I made friends with Morgana, mum, and she gave me this dress mum. Isn't it pretty?" Gwen replied, twirling around in it.

"It's completely impractical." She sniffed. "You don't need a fancy dress to look pretty anyway. We don't need any charity, you can take the dress back tomorrow, we manage just fine as we are."

"But mum..." Gwen trailed off, so disappointed. This dress was the nicest thing she owned and now she had to give it back.

"No buts. And you aren't to play with Morgana again, King Uther wouldn't approve and I don't want the guards knocking on our guards in the middle of the night."

"But Elyan gets to train with Arthur." Gwen protested.

"That is different Gwen dear, you know that, Elyan is going to be a knight, it is proper for them to train together as do some of the other village boys wanting to be knights. You and Morgana can never be friends. You are more likely to become her servant than her friend." Her mum replied. "Now hurry up, the soup's almost done." Gwen nodded and walked through to the other room to get changed out of the dress. Maybe Arthur was right. Maybe she was just a peasant girl.

As she sat down to eat her watery vegetable soup, Morgana also sat to eat her meal. She ate slowly, picking at it and taking tiny nibbles.

"Is something wrong Morgana?" Uther asked as she finally pushed her plate away. She shook her head. She couldn't get Gwen out of her mind. She was so unlucky, she was such a nice friend, but she couldn't even afford nice clothes. Morgana wished she could do more to help her, but Uther would forbid her from being friends if he found out.

"I'm just not very hungry." She replied, dully. "May I be excused?" She asked, going to stand.

"Wait until we've all finished. It would be expected of you at a public meal, so you should get used to it now." Uther replied shaking his head. Morgana dipped her head and stared down at the stone floor.

"Pass that cake." Arthur demanded a few minutes later. Uther coughed loudly. "Erm, please." He added, turning red. Morgana gave him a sickly sweet smile.

"Certainly Arthur," She said, passing it, but as she did she accidentally on purpose dropped it so the cream on it went on Arthur's clothes.

"Now look what you've done." He yelled, losing his temper.

"Arthur." Uther said warningly. "Do not speak to Morgana like that, it was an accident. Go up to you chambers and get changed."

"I'm sorry Arthur." Morgana smirked discretely so that Uther wouldn't see.

One of Uther's knights walked into the hall a few minutes later and walked over to the king. He started to whisper something in his ear, but Uther held his hand up to stop him. "Morgana you can leave." He told her and waited until the doors of the hall were fully closed before letting the guard speak.

Morgana walked up to her chambers, her shoes tip-tapping on the cold stone floor as she went. She flung the doors open to see Arthur sitting on her bed. "Get out." She said, a flicker of anger coming over her face. Arthur started to fidget.

"Look Morgana I-" He began.

"Are deaf or just plain stupid?" Morgana interrupted. "I said get out."

"I came to apologise." Arthur said quickly. Morgana snorted.

"Good joke. Arthur Pendragon come to apologise. Like I'd ever believe that." She replied coldly.

"I-you were right." Arthur said. "I shouldn't have been rude to that girl." Morgana rolled her eyes. He didn't even bother to find out her name.

"It's not me you should be apologising to." She said.

"I know, but I have no idea where the girl lives."

"Elyan." Morgana said.

"What?" Arthur looked confused.

"She's Elyan's sister." Morgana told him.

"Elyan? I recognise that name. Elyan." He repeated muttering it to himself. "Oh, one of the peasant boys. I'll speak to him tomorrow and find out where he lives so I can say sorry." Arthur said, standing up to leave. He walked over to the door and smiled at Morgana, glad they were no longer arguing.

"And Arthur?" Morgana added.

"Yes?" He asked.

"Pushing me in horse dung doesn't make you the winner." She smirked.

"You dropped your sword so I won." He shrugged. "And you didn't even fall in the dung." Morgana rolled her eyes. "I would have won even if you hadn't nearly fallen in the dung."

"Fine, then you won't mind having a rematch tomorrow nowhere near horse dung?" Morgana asked.

"Fine, just don't cry when you get beaten." He smirked, leaving the room. Morgana flopped down on her bed and sighed, wishing that she could play with Gwen again tomorrow. She had been so much fun. She wished people wouldn't see her as just a peasant girl. Uther would never allow his precious ward to play with a peasant girl.


	3. Chapter 3: An Apology

_**Chapter 3: ~An apology**_

"Elyan!" Arthur shouted as his friend put his sword back on its rack and started to walk back to his house after training with Arthur a few days later.

"Yes?" Elyan stopped and turned to face Arthur. Arthur barely noticed him from the other boys from various villages that trained with him. He was surprised he even knew his name.

"Er, is it alright if I come to your house, I want to speak to your sister, Gwen." He asked. Elyan nodded.

"I heard she made friends with Morgana yesterday." He said, starting to walk again now that Arthur had caught up with him.

"You're a good fighter." Arthur said after they had walked in silence for a couple of minutes. "Not as good as me of course." He added quickly. "But you're shaping up to be a strong knight."

"Thank you your majesty." Elyan said. "I just want to serve Camelot." Arthur nodded.

"I've no doubt you will." He replied and they carried on in silence until they reached Elyan's house. Arthur wrinkled his nose in disgust and stared around at the tiny kitchen as they walked in.

"Had a good day Elyan?" His mum asked, turning around to look at her son.

"Oh, mum this is Prince Arthur, Arthur, this is my mum." He introduced them. Arthur nodded and Elyan's mum did a small curtsey.

"Oh your majesty, I didn't know you were coming, there's not much food in, if you want something to eat, but I can send Gwen to get something if you want."

"I'm only here for a few minutes, I was actually wondering if I could talk to Gwen if that's okay?" Arthur asked.

"Yes, Elyan take him through. I expect it's about yesterday. When she got back I told her not to play with Morgana again. I doubt your father would approve and I didn't want any trouble." She babbled anxiously.

Elyan took him through to the other room and Arthur followed, trying to ignore the mud on the floor and cold draught blasting through small cracks in the walls. The first thing he saw in the other room was Gwen sweeping the floor, humming to herself as she went. She didn't notice Elyan and Arthur walking in. Elyan walked back out again to fetch water from the well. Arthur scuffed the floor with his boots to make Gwen aware of his presence. She jumped around quickly and her eyes widened when she saw who it was.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "Your highness. I'm sorry. I didn't know you were here. I just want to apologise for yesterday. I shouldn't have played with Morgana, I don't know what came over me." She babbled.

"It's okay," Arthur told her softly. "I came to apologise to you. I shouldn't have called you a peasant girl. You will one day be one of my people and I should respect you as such." Gwen looked at him in amazement.

"I-I." She wasn't sure what to say next.

"Morgana and I were going to have a duel thingy tomorrow, before it we can come and get you to make sure neither of us cheats if you want to." Arthur said, before a really awkward silence could fall. Gwen noticed that he didn't say that Gwen could fight to. She supposed it was because she was a girl. The only reason Morgana was allowed to fight was because she was the king's ward. Uther wanted her to be able to defend herself for a worst case scenario where Morgana's life depended on her fighting skills.

"I don't know." Gwen replied. "I don't think that I'd be allowed."

"I can speak to your mum and say how good it is that Morgana finally has some female company her age." Arthur told her.

"Well, I guess it would be fun." Gwen wavered.

"We'll come and get you tomorrow then." Arthur told her. "It'll be sometime after lunch."

"Sounds good." Gwen smiled slightly at Arthur before adding. "Pushing someone is against the rules though." Arthur glowered slightly.

"You two are conspiring against me." But he had a smile on his face as he turned to leave the room. He turned to Gwen's mum as he walked out of the house, well he wouldn't call it that. He thought it more of a shack. "Uther thinks it's good for Morgana to have female company of her age, but there is no one in Camelot of a suitable status, but he heard about Morgana and Gwen yesterday. He thinks as long as they realise that their friendship can only be a childhood friendship, they can play together." He told her. Gwen's mother look surprised.

"Are you sure?" She asked him.

"Yes, if that is alright with you of course." He told her. "My father sent me to talk to Gwen and to talk to you."

"Well of course," Gwen's mum told him. "Have a good day, your highness." She said, curtsying and then he left. He felt slightly bad that he had lied, but he wanted Morgana to stop being mad at him. He didn't really get her point about Gwen not being just some peasant girl, but if it made her happy.

He hurried back to the castle and found Morgana in her room. "I did it." He said, bursting in. She glared at him angrily. "What?" He asked, seeing her expression. "I did what you wanted." She looked even angrier as he walked towards her.

"Arthur," She said through gritted teeth. "What have I told you about knocking before coming in?"

"Oh, sorry." Arthur said quickly, he wasn't sorry in the slightest, he just wanted to chat to Morgana.

"Go out, knock and when I say, you can come back in." Morgana ordered in an authoritative tone. Arthur quickly went out again and Morgana heard a loud tapping on her door. She smirked to herself and ignored it and carried on reading her book. The tapping became more insistent, but she still ignored it.

"Are you ever going to let me in?" Arthur asked, his voice muffled behind the door.

"I'm finishing the rest of the chapter," She told him, smirking slightly.

"Oh great," Morgana heard Arthur mutter.

"Okay, you can come in now," Morgana called five minutes later, putting her book down. "What can I do for you Arthur?" She gave him a sickly sweet smile which he returned, both of them knowing each was being sarcastic.

"I apologised to Gwen," He told her. "And she's joining us tomorrow, when we duel again."

"I can't wait," Morgana smiled and Arthur returned the smile. "To watch you have your butt kicked by two girls."

"You will not be kicking my butt," Arthur protested. "You're just a girl."

"And that is precisely why I will win," Morgana smiled. "Because you underestimate me because you think that I'm just a girl" She told him before sighing and adding. "As do most people."

"Well it's true," Arthur pointed out.

"And your just a boy," Morgana shrugged. "Why should I sit around playing with dolls while you train to be a knight just because I'm a girl."

"It's honourable for a man to protect a lady," Arthur argued.

"I can protect myself," Morgana told him. "Why shouldn't I be a knight?"

"You know father would be angry with you for saying those things," Arthur told her. She nodded.

"It's the way it is," She replied. "But you could change that when you become king."


	4. Chapter 4: A Royal Butt Kicked

_**Chapter 4: ~A Royal Butt Kicked**_

"Gwen, you came," Morgana smiled as Gwen walked over to her and Arthur as they were sword fighting the next day. "I'm so glad."

"Now you'll have no excuses when I beat you," Arthur said. Morgana laughed.

"You think you can beat me?" She raised an eyebrow at Arthur. "You're just a spoilt prince." She raised her sword for an attack but Arthur blocked easily and began a parry of attacks himself.

"And you're just a girl," Arthur countered. Gwen watched in awe as they attacked back and forth.

"And that's precisely why I'm going to win," Morgana told him as she brought her leg up and kicked him whilst he was distracted with an attack with her sword that meant his sword was locked with hers above their heads. He flew back onto the grass, his sword sliding out of his hand. "An that is how you kick a royal butt." Morgana smiled at Gwen before picking up Arthur's sword. "Want a practise?"

"If that's okay?" Gwen asked, looking anxiously at Arthur who was picking himself up and rubbing the dirt off him.

"Course it is," Morgana smiled, passing Gwen Arthur's sword. Morgana launched an attack and Gwen shakily managed to fend it off. "You're good at this."

"I could've killed her ten times over by now," Arthur muttered.

"No one asked your opinion," Morgana told him as Gwen blocked another blow. "If I remember correctly, and I do, the first time you picked up a real sword you immediately dropped it because it was too heavy."

"I was little," Protested Arthur. "If you're only going to insult me, then I'm going." He added with a huff.

"Be my guest," Morgana told him, gesturing him to leave with her sword. He sighed and walked off. Gwen took the moment while Morgana was distracted to launch an attack. She jabbed the sword into Morgana's sword, causing Morgana to cry out in surprise.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," Gwen gushed, dropping her sword quickly. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's fine," Morgana told her. "You just took me by surprise. It was actually a really good blow."

"Really?" Gwen asked, surprised.

"Really," Morgana smiled. "Do you want to try some archery now?"

"So you just get whatever you want whenever you want it?" Gwen asked an hour later as they stopped to have a drink. Morgana nodded.

"Yeah," She replied. "I'm the king's ward. He kind of has to."

"You're so lucky," Gwen told her.

"It doesn't feel like it sometimes," Morgana confided in her. "I'm not allowed to do most of the stuff Arthur's allowed to do. Everyone treats me like I'm really special. It's kind of annoying actually. I just want to be normal."

"You're allowed to train though," Gwen argued. "That's more than us village girls are allowed to do."

"I guess," Morgana agreed. "You probably think I'm despicable, complaining about life when I'm so privileged." Gwen shrugged. "It's okay, I'm not gonna get you arrested for agreeing." Morgana told her, smiling slightly.

"It is a bit annoying," Gwen agreed. "I can see how it could be frustrating for you though."

"Arthur can be such a pain," Morgana said after a moment of silence. Then an idea formed in her head. "Do you fancy taking him down a peg or two?"

"What do you need me to do?" Gwen asked and Morgana grinned.


	5. Chapter 5: Fall From Grace

_**This is gonna be the last chapter, I hope you've enjoyed it.**_

 _ **~The Lonely Geek**_

 _ **Chapter 5: ~Fall from grace**_

"So you remember what you need to do?" Morgana asked Gwen the next day. Gwen nodded and the two girls smiled. "I'll see you in my room then."

"Arthur! Arthur! Come quickly," Gwen shouted, running into Arthur's room.

"Who dares burst into my room without knocking?" Arthur asked, annoyed someone had woken him up this early in the morning. "Oh it's you, Gwen. What are you doing here?" He asked, confused at why the peasant girl was in his room at the crack of dawn.

"It's Morgana," Gwen said and Arthur sat up in bed quickly.

"What?" He asked. "What's wrong with her?" Gwen looked so scared that he knew that something serious must have happened. In reality, Gwen was barely holding back the smirk of laughter on her face for what was going to happen in a few minutes.

"I don't know," She said quickly. "We were just talking and then she suddenly went white as a sheet and began to cry. She kept saying your name. I didn't know who to get."

"I'll make sure she's okay," Arthur told Gwen, pushing past her to get out of his room, not even bothering to put a shirt on. Gwen followed him, picking her skirts up above her ankles so she didn't trip as she ran. She turned the corner just as Arthur pushed open Morgana's door. She was just in time to see the bucket of horse dung land right on top of his head and slide down his shirtless top half.

Even from several meters away she could hear Morgana laughing and Arthur's cries of disgust. Gwen couldn't help but snigger slightly. "I think you should probably take a bath." Morgana told Arthur.

"You!" He shouted. "Why? I was worried about you."

"I didn't think you were genuine about the way you were treating Gwen," Morgana told him. "Besides it was funny."

"Quite the fall from grace," Gwen agreed but Arthur only rolled his eyes and stormed off. "You don't think it was a bit harsh?" Gwen asked, troubled slightly by Arthur's reaction but Morgana shook her head.

"Like you said it was a fall from grace," Morgana told him. "One that he needed. He was just plain arrogant before, maybe he'll change now."


End file.
